


Enemies but Not Quite

by Spacetoy



Category: Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 01:18:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15474300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacetoy/pseuds/Spacetoy
Summary: Chinaski's days as a Post Office temp. worker are like all others, but there is also Stone, his boss, who has been nothing but a pain to him, except suddenly he's not.. Hint of a m/m pairing and more in the future, if I finish this work. Inspired by Post Office a novel by Bukowski.





	1. POV Chinaski

**Author's Note:**

> I doubt anyone is interested in reading this fic because this isn't a super popular novel and totally an odd pairing, but hey if you liked the Post Office novel by Bukowski and wondered if there was some love/ hate relationship between these two characters ;)...well here is something for you. I'm wondering actually if this is the first fanfic for this pair or for Bukowsk's novel overall. No beta. Not sure if there will be more, but if so, it will probably be one more chapter.

I was attacked today. The key broke and I had to slip the guy’s mail under the door, but the hole was jammed with junk mail and I was already late, so I had no choice but to knock. No one of course answered and the door was half open, so I walked in. It was pretty dark, so I just took my time and even found a half empty beer can which I took a sip from. When I reached an old coffee table, I saw a newspaper and wanted to check if it was from today. I heard footsteps and looked up, the guy came at me with a knife and I barely managed to doge it. I felt a little disoriented because I was already experiencing the worst headache, but I tried to reason with him. I knew he was surprised to see me, but I wanted to make sure his mail didn’t blow away from the wind because I couldn’t jam the rest into the door. He wasn’t listening, and kept screaming something about mail thieves, and I had to back up because he kept swinging at me until he cut my shirt. I threw the paper and the rest of his god dam mail into his face, which surprised him for a second and this was my chance to run. 

The Stone was already waiting for me as I got to the station. He looked at me briefly but didn’t say anything right away. 

I glanced at him as well, but I just rolled my eyes a little and took my time to punch in. I was already late so it wouldn’t make any difference now if he wrote me up five or ten minutes late. After putting my bags down, I just went straight to the crapper. I ate something bad probably, but I don’t remember now what it was. One doesn’t get to eat real food around here so I wasn’t surprised. 

I heard Stone writing away on his god dam type writer when I walked in. I was thirty minutes late now but I didn’t care. I took off my wet coat and lowered my rugged shirt that got stuck to my chest and I realized I was still bleeding. The basturd scratched me harder with his god dam bread knife then I thought. I went over to Stone’s desk and started taking some of his tissues. When I finished wiping the blood, I looked up and saw him staring at me. He never stared at me before. I was a little confused and he must have seen it, so he pointed to my chest. 

“You’re bleeding.” 

I wanted to punch him, but he didn’t sound happy about stating the obvious. It almost felt as if he was concerned for me. 

“I know.” I barked out and took more of the tissues. I walked up to the trash, threw the tissues in and went to my locker to change.

When I came back, The Stone was still typing. I made a face and thought how long was this late notice going to take him. I walked to his desk until my legs pumped into it. He looked up when he heard the sound. His hazel eyes looked almost startled when he saw me standing over him. His face didn’t look older than 30 though he was reaching 40. I leaned slightly towards his desk, to mess with him a little. He first glared at me, but when I didn’t do anything he quickly ripped off the piece of paper he was writing and gave it to me. 

“Here,” 

I let the paper fall on the desk. He stood up. I didn’t feel like I was in his personal space, but he seemed to think so. Not that I cared. He went over to lean his well manicured finger nails on the back of his leather chair. 

“Chinaski, you have eight write ups. Any two more and you will be suspended without pay.”  
He looked to see if I was going to react, but I gave him nothing. I took the paper and crumbled it  
The Stone set down again and started writing. 

I laughed suddenly, and that must have made him really mad because he got really red like his shirt and almost threw the next paper at me. He then stood up and was going to go around me. That is when I must have lost more blood then I thought because I intercepted him in the middle of the room, and stood right in front of him. I wasn’t going to let him leave.

“Move over.” He hissed 

I grunted amusingly putting my hands on his shoulders. He was taller than me by 2 inches, but I was bigger than him in the shoulders. He was rather skinny, so I just pushed him into his desk. He mumbled something incoherent and yelled when he fell on it. His back must have hit the desk hard because he closed his eyes briefly but recovered quickly.

He managed to stamd up straight and put his hands out to probably stop me from further attacking him.

I just stood watching and slowly smiled. 

He looked really unsettled now.

“What is the meaning of this Chinaski!” 

I put my hands up and stepped back. 

“Relax. I just wanted to see some reaction from you. All you do is sit here in that dam chair all day. No one pays you any attention except when you write them up.” I smirked and then had to sit down because my head did hurt. 

The Stone was looking at me oddly again but now he seemed to have lost his anger. He was maybe trying to comprehend what I was saying but couldn’t. I didn’t blame him. I had no idea what I was saying. He sighted under his nose and adjusted his shirt. He looked like he was always ready to go to a funeral with that dam grimace on his face. He noticed that I had stepped away, so he went back around to his desk.

“You need time off, and I will give you that, so spend it wisely. But, this is your only warning. If you ever come near me and attack me, you will be dismissed without a notice. Do you understand me, Chinaski?” 

“Yeah.” I stood up and picked up the paper he dropped on his desk. This time I didn’t throw it out. I walked out without looking back.

I surprisingly got two weeks off. I accomplished that for pushing my boss. I needed to go and see Betty. I was going retarded maybe. I needed a good rest and a good fuck.

After my weeks off, where I drank my ass to 2 am and Betty stayed til noon, The Stone didn’t as much as look at me. I must have really scared him off. Maybe he thought I really wanted to hurt him for giving me all those horrible jobs. 

But, I wasn’t a fighter. I had naturally acquired my grandfather’s strong shoulders, and my father’s tendency to alcoholism and women, which had pretty much wasted me. I was however better with words. After the complaint I filed against Stone earlier as a mailman sub, I knew he wasn’t happy to see me fuck around with him again. But, I had to make sure he didn’t fire me. Not yet. I didn’t fucking care what he thought of me, but I cared for the pay.

I saw him sitting at his desk as usual when I came in. He looked up briefly and I caught his gaze. He stopped writing for a second and gave me a cold stare. Then he went back to typing. 

Great, he was still mad at me. I didn’t want him to starve me again. He could still do that to me. He could not pay me for two or three weeks. 

“Stone.”

I stood there in the middle of the office, but he didn’t look up. I couldn’t risk going forward. He might throw me out this time. 

“Alexander Jonstone, may I please have a word with you?”

I almost gagged but he looked up. I had his attention. It was easy since for all these years I have never called him by his first name which I was surprised I even remembered or used the word please. 

It did a number on him. He first looked dumbstruck as if he couldn’t believe my words, then he almost looked happy sitting there looking at me. He must have noted that I was kissing his ass  
.  
He sighted. 

“What is it Chinaski?”

“Alright so, I want to make sure you will not starve me. I did what you told me to do. I didn’t waste it. I had an incredible time with Betty. We fucked every day straight. I am back now and ready as ever to work. But, I need the money and I can’t afford…” 

He looked like he was angry again, but he stopped himself and looked blankly at me. 

“Chinaski, your private life is of little concern to me. What is my concern is that you follow the rules and that you never display such ill mannered and aggressive behavior in my presence. Now, since you are back and seem stable enough, take a seat and wait your turn like everyone else.” 

I looked around behind me but no one was there. I sat down away. 

He rubbed his face and ran his hand threw his dark hair. I could tell that in the morning he put lots of gel on his hair to keep it still. Now the dark curls were falling into his face. I wanted to remember this in case I needed dirt on him later. He had girly hair. 

He opened his drawer, and took out another paper to put in the type writer. I sat silently but wasn’t going to take it this time. The other subs have all left some time ago. It was getting late. He was going to starve me. 

“Look, Stone, don’t. Okay?”

He coughed while typing. I could see a small smile appear on his pale face. He could not hide it while I sat there in front of his desk. It was odd to see it. He even had dimples on his cheeks when he smiled. I had to admit it caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure what to say next. Was he toying with me? If so, why didn’t he just starve me? Was he enjoying this game now?

“Go take route 359.” 

I almost jumped up from my seat. I breathed in and out lightly. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of being happy that he listened to me. I nodded to him quickly and walked out. I was hoping that everything would be back to normal. Time for hell, time to delivery some mail. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My style here is inspired to some extent in the way Bukowski wrote the novel.


	2. -POV Jonstone-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonstone's point of view but continuation of the story forward.

Chinaski did not deserve any of my good will. I couldn’t remember ever almost losing my temper then when he pushed me in my office four weeks ago. Sometimes I thought he really was crazy. But, there were no excuses. The station had to be run ruthlessly to keep it together. There were no excuses. I don’t know why I was going easy on him then. He had no more chances left for getting kicked out the door, but I gave him a job anyway and I had no idea why. I hated him for that. I looked at the clock. If he wasn’t here in half an hour he was going to be late and I was maybe going to have to write him up for it. 

I heard the door open, and out of reflex I looked up. I was confused when no one walked in and I heard the door close again. I got up and went to the door. Looking out, the wind caught my hair and it went in my face. I couldn’t see for a second, but it was dark anyway. 

“Your hair is messed up. ”

I looked down and there was Chinaski on the sidewalk. He was lying on his back. At least this time he wasn’t bleeding.

“What happened?” 

I bend forward to see him better. He was lying still just his head was turned slightly towards me. He seemed to be in pain because he didn’t say anything else and closed his eyes. 

I put a hand on one of his shoulders and pushed him a little.

“C’mon, get up.” 

He grunted and opened his eyes. 

“Okay, okay, I know it’s late.” 

It was late but I wasn’t worried about that. 

“Give me your hand.” 

He obeyed almost immediately and took my hand. I have never touched the man, but his hand shake was firm. I gripped his shoulder when I pushed him up to his feet. He didn’t say anything but I could tell he wasn’t feeling well. He swayed in place for a second when I removed my hands.

We walked in together and I closed the door. I put the closed sign up because there were only a few minutes left before I needed to get home anyway. I looked towards Chinaski. He was making his way to the sofa. The one I used for naps when everyone went to their morning rounds. I resisted the urge to tell him to get off it. Instead, I approached him and stood still in front of him. I wanted to know if he was going to be okay. His face was very pale. He usually had a healthy slightly tanned face from all the walking outdoors and his reddish brown hair stood out today. His unnaturally blue eyes were closed so I felt out of place to stare at him, and turned a little towards the direction of my desk. 

“I’m fine Stone. Stop looking at me like I grew a second head. I just feel dizzy and I might throw up on your pretty rug. “

I grunted in disagreement and he smiled lightly. I went to sit at my desk. It seemed the appropriate thing to do while he was laying there spread out on my sofa with one foot on it, while the other lay on the rug. I saw how his navy shirt had slid up his stomach, so half his chest was showing. He was still young, and though he never had a clean shirt as long as I have known him, and could use some exercise when it came to his somewhat chubby stomach, Chinaski wasn’t a bad looking man. He had his charm. A kind of youthful, but gruff look; he was maybe Irish or English. He never really smiled but he gave you one of those smirks once in a while, and you knew he was thinking of doing something bad. It was amusing at best, but I would never tell him that. 

“Aren’t you going to write me up?” 

He startled me. 

“You need to take it easy Chinaski. Get some sleep tonight without the drinks and women.” 

He laughed loudly, his voice echoing around the four walls of my office. He turned on the sofa so that he was facing me and opened his blue eyes. He was smirking at me but he didn’t seem to be angry.

“ I do have a hang over every day. I guess it is no surprise to you.” 

I wasn’t sure if he was thinking I was criticizing him or he was talking about the reason for why he was sick. I stood up and walked towards him, and then I sat next to him on the sofa.

“Are you going to be my shrink now? Mr. Chinaski, you have drank and fucked too much. If you don’t stop now, you will probably die.” He laughed. 

I looked away from him and leaned into the sofa. He was talkative and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see this side of him, but I felt bad for the man. He left mud on the door steps and dirty woman in his bed. I could tell he went to parties or did other things because he came to work hung over all the time. But, I admired his will to continue working and maybe the very lifestyle he led. I was never much of a party person, let alone a lover. Maybe I admired him for all this. 

“Stone?”

He stopped talking finally and was just looking at me. He wanted my attention because he started to sit up. I moved quickly, and pressed my hand on his shoulder lightly but firmly enough so that he couldn’t move. 

“Stay here. Just don’t throw up on my rug and make sure you leave as soon as the others come.” 

He was looking at my hand on his shoulder, and I withdrew it and set up on the sofa looking away. He stayed put.

“Ha, I guess, though considering you’re such an ass hole usually, I’m beginning to think maybe I died out there in the street already and you’re not really Stone.” He laughed and ran his hand through his messy hair.

I looked at him. I didn’t want to see his gratitude, and it seemed that neither was he willing to just say thank you to me. I was fine with that. I got up and went to fetch my brief case and my trench coat. It was late but it wasn’t unusual for me to stay up late at the office and there was no one home that would be waiting for me so I didn’t mind. 

“Chinaski”

“Just call me Henry, okay?” 

I looked at him surprised. Maybe that was his way of saying thank you. He had closed his eyes again and was leaning his forehead into the sofa. Or maybe he was really ill, more than I thought. 

“Okay, look, you need to lock the door on my way out. Take your time, but do it right. I don’t want to see you tomorrow. ”

He nodded. 

“ I do hope you will see a doctor. I will not be able to give you anymore days off after that. ”

“Kind of you Stone, now go, you are giving me a headache with the lecture.” 

I nodded even though he wasn’t looking at me anymore. When he didn’t say anything else, I got my stuff and left.


End file.
